


sunshower

by kivrh



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-28
Updated: 2019-02-28
Packaged: 2019-11-06 20:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17946866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kivrh/pseuds/kivrh
Summary: the mighty blue beast of konoha could fell any attacker that came at him, but grief seeped through his skin.





	sunshower

gai was the sun.

it was an easy comparison to make; the man was boisterous, out-there. you couldnt not notice him if he was in the vicinity, and his teeth shined to the point where maybe one would need to cover their eyes.

he was warm, both physically and as a person. the way he smiled at his students, the way he urged them on, the way he looked on as they made leaps of progress and looked behind to excitedly grin at gai. 

the warmth he sent back could bring life to a billion planets.

you couldnt get rid of him no matter how hard you tried, no matter how much youd glare. hed sleep, hed rest, but never truly leave you.

but at the same time, the man was still human.

kakashi held him in his arms as he trembled and sobbed.

"how do you do it, rival? how do you stay strong?"

he wasnt the right person to ask.

instead the two of them sat in silence, one body curled up into the others on the tatami mat.

an ugly feeling was curling up in his gut. it was that of frustration, of anger.

of all people to have to face tragedy, gai wasnt one who deserved to.

the man wasnt made for suffering, wasnt built to be shaken to the core and eaten up from the inside out. he was so strong, yet so, so soft. 

kakashi's hand gripped gai's shoulder. he could feel the damp spot on his shoulder growing. the desire to speak was present but what would he say? what was supposed to help? kakashi wouldnt know, and maybe he wanted to cry too, because what else could he do?

"he was so young," gai hiccuped. "he was so /unhappy/. but he had so much ahead of him, so much that couldve been /fixed/."

"...yeah."

"kakashi, i tried so hard to help him but it wasnt enough. did i not try hard enough? did i fail him?"

images of dark hair and red eyes and the bitter taste of vengeance and death and power resurfaced in his mind like petals on a lake.

"no. you didnt fail him, gai. you could never fail anyone."


End file.
